Old Enemies: Darth Vader vs Mace Windu
by Ambidextrous Snake
Summary: An ancient Jedi Master, the last remnant of the ruined Jedi Order miraculously survives. Before Luke can join his father's side as a Sith Lord, Darth Vader must ensure no Jedi hermits remain. Darth Vader's task, in his eyes, is once again personal. If Old Ben had completed Vader's transition to the dark side, then Mace Windu certainly set it in motion. The rivalry ends on Geonosis.
1. Prologue

[Duel starts on ch3, but recommend as whole]

"Impossible..."

"...We destroyed him."

"It would seem he has, after all this time….survived his injuries."

"No-one could have survived that fall. You showed him the true nature of the Force, my Master."

"Now he is but a bleeding wound in the Force. Lord Vader, find him. Finish what you started."

"He will be destroyed as you command, Master."

The screen switched off, leaving the room a dimly lit retreat for Darth Vader. Alone and crouching, Vader exhaled - a mechanical sigh. He raised himself to stand, and curled his right hand into a fist until the hydraulics of his fingers whimpered under the pressure. He felt himself convulsing, burning, dying all over again. But only in his mind, in his rage. The one person to match his hatred for Obi-Wan. The Jedi hypocrite, come to die with his ancient Order.

The lights flickered on and off, about to implode. The very atmosphere of the isolated room turned ice cold, Vader only saw darkness in front of him. Both his gloved fists were so tightly clenched now they shook under his strength, and the flickering lights with it.

"Sorry to disturb you Lord Vader-" General Veers walked in on Vader, being silenced by the eery, seemingly alive room. As soon as Vader heard his subordinate's voice, the lights were back to normal, the room stopped shaking, and Vader released himself of these troubling thoughts.

"General." Darth Vader did not turn to Veers. Facing away still, he just listened.

Veers glanced around the room as he spoke, puzzled by what he thought he saw. Some kind of power cut maybe, the rumours about Vader's sorcerous ways were impossible. Empire propaganda to scare rebels no doubt. He cleared his throat.

"Our spies believe they have located the fugitive."

There was a pause. "Should we bring him in for questioning?"

"No." Darth Vader turned abruptly.

"I will deal with this Jedi traitor myself."

"Apologies my Lord...But, the Jedi have been extinct for years…" Veers questioned.

"And so they will be again. Bring me my shuttle." Darth Vader exited the room with the kind of disturbing motivation that was rarely seen aboard an Imperial star destroyer.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Pursuit

"Disable that ship, Admiral."

Admiral Piett gave the command to open fire. Elongated crimson lights beamed towards the rogue frigate, lasers sent from the Devastator toward the frigate's orange engines. The Devastator, Darth Vader's veteran capital ship, the last and oldest Imperial I class Star Destroyer in the navy, peppered the frigate - which was still large in size, almost as large as an Imperial star destroyer, but was like a tired roach wiggling under a much larger boot. Its shields burning away, the frigate in a surprise move fired back. The Devastator blasted away the incoming torpedoes with its green point defence systems, all amongst flashes of red that lit up the pitch dark, space background. This was only a fraction of the starship's power.

Life scans showed the ship had a few hundred people on board, it wasn't of the Rebel Alliance, but it was still harbouring a fugitive. A jedi traitor. The vessel was a large transport ship, a kind of angular, half moon type shape. It had too many turrets to be a simple cargo or people carrier, but too little to be a warship. Admiral Piett made sure to fire on its defences and engines only to minimise casualties, but would have no quarrel in blowing the ship to pieces if they refused to surrender their Jedi.

It's twin engines, like crushed cans of drink bellowed smoke, dead. It screeched to a dead glide, its defence systems down. Piett sent a message on screen.

"Resist us once more and we will fire upon you without further warning. Prepare to be boarded and present former Jedi Master Mace Windu for arrest."

Darth Vader sensed Windu aboard, amongst many others. Amongst the bystanders, the hoarders of traitors, the no ones of the Galaxy.

"This is a refugee ship. You have overstepped your bounds this time Admiral." An old bearded man, presumably the captain, replied on screen.

Piett grimaced and went to answer "These orders are direct from the Emperor…I think-"

Vader silenced him, entering the viewpad. Gasps could be heard from the captain's background inside the vessel. The captain himself looked petrified at the black shadow before him.

Darth Vader. "The Emperor will be most displeased with your resistance, Captain."

"The Emperor would dare-?-"

The Captain stopped in his tracks. His throat began to convulse. Trembling, his hands found themselves grasping his bearded neck. Life was being plucked from his lungs. And Vader had one hand calmly raised in a pinching maneuver.

"You will present the traitor to us or suffer the same fate as he will." Vader commanded.

With this rhetoric, the screen blurted off and Vader made his way to the triangular lambda class shuttle. Taking a squad of elite stormtroopers with him. The squad, 'Vader's Fist' piled into the shuttle with him.

Slowly, they traversed the space between the Devastator and the unnamed, lethargic ship. Flying via space shuttle into its two-ship hangar, they spotted a dusty A-Wing that had two-thirds been covered in a sheet of cloth, no doubt to conceal its presence.

"Be on high alert, they have ties to the Rebellion as I suspected." The dark Lord warned. His boarding party of a dozen or so acknowledged, and went to unlock the blast door to the ship's interior. It was locked. They had disobeyed him for the last time. The stormtroopers were ready to place thermal charges on its panels - until it burst open. All the stormtroopers took aim in one swift twitch. Even Vader was caught off guard, one hand placed on his hip cautiously.

The wan looking captain came out, he was pale and sported a cheap prosthetic leg. The left side of his body leaned on a walking stick, but he stood with strength - and a glare that Darth Vader despised.

"Lead us to him." Vader ordered.

Following him through the dark, narrow corridors, Vader saw it was a ship housing a diverse pallet of refugees. Room upon room of bunk beds and empty crates. The Captain began a commentary on the way to the heart of the vessel. "We've been drifting for five months now, picking up refugees from whole worlds made victim by the conflict."

"There is no conflict, Captain. It is an infestation we will soon drive out of the Galaxy." Vader corrected, coldly.

"You say infestation, I say it's a point of view…" He stated. Vader stopped in his tracks. Raising a pointed finger at the significantly shorter Captain like a child being berated back into his place by a parent. "You will speak no more of this. That starfighter in the hangerbay? I am no fool. You are harbouring a criminal, and treason means death. You will delay me no longer in my search."

"He's just through here…" Darth Vader and his squad followed the Captain's outstretched hand. He pointed to a large communal room where everyone was eating. A poor excuse for a mess hall. Vader sent his squad to search through the room, they started stopping at every refugee, most of which donned long robed clothing. Those hooded were commanded to remove it. The captain looked at Vader expectantly. He said "I guess he must've hopped ship on our last landing..." Vader paid no attention to him. Instead, he felt a tremor in the Force.

He felt a presence he hadn't felt for a long time. He was here.

He finally turned to face the Captain, who tried to stare Vader back in his hollow lenses. Vader beckoned his troops back. They surrounded the Captain.

"If you will not tell us his location, I will pry it from your demise."

"Fire on my command."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Pursuit (2)**

Two stormtroopers threw the Captain to his knees, and the hall erupted in terror. The Captain's eyes filled themselves with pure shock. "You're...you're pure evil. The Empire will never get away with this!" Vader had hoped Windu would be prompted to save the Captain, to see if he was still a true Jedi.

Vader silenced the Captain's squarkings, listening to Mace. Listening to his heartbeat. It grew faster, more intense, he could smell the cold breath of old Windu's throat. He glanced around. Then suddenly, shots were heard and felt throughout the hall. Somewhere so suddenly in the crossfire, the Captain lay dead among three other stormtroopers. Fighters, rebels or the Captain's groupies..ambushed Vader and his squad. Their faction did not matter, for they were against the Imperial presence. In no time there was blaster fire left right and centre. The refugees caught in the middle perished most quickly.

Vader roared. "Nothing but a distraction!" There... Vader….Saw - Him.

Fleeing like a coward, a hooded figure darted back the way Vader entered towards the vast, long corridors to the hanger. The hood fell back against his momentum, revealing a dark figure, whose face was lit by Vader's now activated lightsaber. Vader rarely unleashed his sword in such public view, but he needed to level the playing field. Outnumbered but not outskilled. The stormtroopers started taking the insurgents down one by one, but they were relentless...pushing them back into the corridors. Vader backed up, sending blaster bolts flying back into the rebels. One after another pinged off his glowing blade, into the enemy, into refugees, into anyone who wasn't Imperial.

Vader heeled it back out of the room, protecting his squad with his sheer might. Force pushing the blast door closed, he sliced his saber across the it, seering it shut. With a few troopers left, he marched through the corridors in pursuit of Windu. The occasional daring combatant would challenge him and his Force - only to be spliced in half by blasters or blade blood red in colour. His tuned but oversensitive ears could still hear the screams of the ship's passengers. They had no Captain, no power and nowhere to run.

Vader and the five stormtroopers left made their way to the viewing port of the hanger to see Windu powering up the A-Wing. Its engines came alive, and began to hover above the ground. He was too late…

...Or was he?

As the A-Wing blasted off out of the hanger….Vader threw both of his empty hands forward. Locked in the air, his shaking hands had taken aim at the flying A-Wing. It was both a mental and physical wrestle, and the troopers watched in awe as Vader conjured up his ancient sith magics. The rumours were true. The Force for them was now a reality. It got farther and farther away and the ship slipped between his fingers, but just before it had glimmered into a distant white speck among stars, he wrenched his fingers into balled up fists. The A-Wing's flight path crumbled, as did its hull. The rear of the A-Wing had been completely crushed. The _Devastator_ looked on at the A-Wing, and one of its crew was sure to have exclaimed how it looked like it been sideswiped by an angry mother rancor. What was left of its thrusters collapsed away from the main body, into an endless journey around space while the A-Wing made its way toward the closest point of gravity.

The rocky desert graveyard of Geonosis below.

Inside the Imperial shuttle, inbound to head back, Vader received a transmission from the _Devastator_.

"Lord Vader, we have a visual on the starfighter that was released from the hanger minutes ago. We are in range and ready to fire." Admiral Piett informed.

"No, Admiral. You will not fire on that fighter." Vader responded.

"He is the Jedi we are looking for, is he not? Should we engage tractor beam?" Admiral Piett asked, confused like a puppy.

"Unlock my TIE Advanced. I will deal with him myself."

"Allow me to dispatch a squadron to accompany you sir."

"You would be sending them to their deaths." Darth Vader retorted coldly.

"Surely...they were just legends - Jedi propaganda. He is one man against a fleet of our finest men."

"Don't underestimate the power of the Force."

Admiral Piett grew frustrated, but wouldn't dare continue. He only hoped he wouldn't be punished for Vader's potential failure. "Against my advice, but as you command."

"I will correct his final mistake, personally."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - Dark Past**

Darth Vader's TIE Advanced X1 was the ultimate custom made starfighter in the Galaxy. It looked like a bomber, fought like a defender and flew like an interceptor. Sporting shields and a life support system, it cut through Geonosis' stormy atmosphere with ease. The fighter he was in pursuit of was an extremely fast and agile rebel A-Wing, although it was critically damaged and falling rapidly towards the planet's rocky surface. Vader knew that just because his craft was disabled didn't make him any less dangerous. Vader had hoped to blow Windu out of the sky on the fall down to Geonosis...but really he craved putting a lightsaber through his heart. Either way it was personal, and Vader wouldn't give anyone on the _Devastator_ the satisfaction of being known as a jedi killer. Because zapping Windu with an Imperial star destroyer didn't seem enough for Vader. He hasn't faced a real challenge real since fighting Obi-Wan on the first Death Star and even then they were both cautious, holding back.

Slowly, Vader disengaged his TIE's ion thrusters until he was barely floating above the a grand chasm beneath. Scanning for life forms, it was evident Windu was out of range. He called upon the _Devastator_ to do a full planetary scan. Geonosis was a dead rock floating in space, any indigenous Geonosian life had been long been made extinct. The scan took him further into the chasm. It was a huge rocky canyon, jagged and unstable, the worst place to be ambushed.

Vader set his TIE down on one of the many rockfaces inside. It was like it's own ecosystem. The canyon had its own caves systems, cliffs and arches like a maze of sediment.

Geonosis was known for its deep caverns and planetwide catacombs. Vader would drill the planet's core with an orbital bombardment if he had to. The super star destroyer _Executor_ was stationed a few systems away in Bothan space. That would make short work of a the rat scuttling among debris. The Death Star wouldn't have been an option, as an unidentified rebel pilot made short work of that.

Darth Vader knew the ultimate, and only viable method to draw Windu out from these tunnels. He could sense him so close, and so far.

Vader drew a large breath and tuned one of his chestplate's dials. His machine voice bounced along down the canyon, up the canyon, all around until it was all echoes.

"It is time Master Jedi. I sense your fear."

Vader took his time to walk around the setting, scanning every layer of this tomb with his enhanced eyelenses.

"You must face me, alone. The Emperor has no power here, and I offer no mercy. One of us is destined to die."

Vader heard some ruffling, or a skid across the dirt. He spun round, throwing his now active saber at a nearby rock. The bisected rock collapsed, showing nothing behind it. He was here, but still agile in his old age.

"Impressive. I see you have not lost your skill. But it will not save you. It will not save _them_."

Vader willed the saber back towards him and held it unactivated.

Vader contacted Admiral Piett. "Withdraw our forces from the captain's ship. All members aboard are guilty of treason, Admiral."

"I was about to deploy stormtroopers to crush the rebel cell inside."

"It is too late for those aboard, they are accomplices. Demonstrate what happens to traitors."

Admiral Piett hesitated. "You want us to withdraw and open fire?"

"On my command."

Vader turned, hoping Windu would reveal himself. "The only way you can save your friends from destruction. Reveal yourself and some may yet live."

To his disappointment, the canyon remained still. Vader's bluff was called.

"You are free to execute, Admiral."

A robed figure came down from high above Darth Vader. The shroud of cloth he was covered in flapped in the harsh Geonosian wind as he leaped. Vader powered on and spun around to counter the flying charge.

The two warriors crashed into each other. Windu had hit Vader's saber with much force, but he stood upright like a boulder in a hurricane. Instead, Vader's turning momentum threw Windu sliding across the dirt and into the canyon's wall with a crack. The unstable wall begun to crumble, rocks fell from the top of the cliff face towards them both. Windu managed to get to his knees and dive out of the way in time, whilst Vader was left to face the collapse alone. He hurled the boulders out of their flight path, but had to parry out of the final one twice as big as he or else risk being flattened.

Both Windu and Vader regained their composure rapidly, choosing a defensive stance. They held their sabers at arms' length, daring each other. Windu's hood had fallen during the collapsing rock, revealing the same man Vader remembered, although older, wrinkled and heavily scarred. He had grown out a small grey beard, now covered in dusty sediments from the short exchange. One of his eyes seemed heavily damaged, white in fact. His forehead and face were lined in streaky scars, almost like the planet's surface itself. But most of all, was the hand.

Windu's right hand was revealed, he tore off the fabric glove which had been torn inside out. It was a rough, iron-like mechanical one, some of it had blacked and rusted around the edges. It was clearly a crude, underground prosthetic.

His lightsaber still glowed a daring purple, although not as brightly it seemed. The hilt was not the same as his original gold, elegantly crafted one. This hilt was also worn and harshly put together, but clearly functional. Vader noticed a singe on his shoulder pad, a tiny piece of smoke pinged off where Windu must have skimmed him.

They both looked up, the refugee ship was now being destroyed. They could see the emerald flashes of light through the fog and clouds. Ash amongst ash. It would soon become part of the Geonosian landscape.

"They were innocent people..."

Windu spoke with a hoarse voice that seem to neglect him.

"They perished harbouring an enemy of the Empire. Like them, you have forgotten where your loyalties lie."

"And you have forgotten yours, Skywalker. Do you not remember this place? Do you not remember us fighting side by side for a greater cause?"

"A lost cause."

"I remember making the decision on council to rescue you, Amidala and Obi-Wan, when you were captured on this rock, at the mercy of the separatists." Windu reminisced in frustration.

"Only to, in the end, to betray the code they stood for,"

"Speak to me of betrayal? You slayed them both without second thought! You chose power over the last two people who believed in you. A true Jedi Master would never betray his brothers and sisters as you have."

Vader began circling Windu.

"Don't lecture me...You, are a Master of none. A relic. The weakness and folly of the Jedi will never return. Their dogmatic oppression-"

Windu boiled with anger. "The Jedi were protectors, not the oppressors! I warned you boy. The Emperor would become too powerful. And look what he has made you into."

Vader clutches his fists tightly, as did Windu. They both felt hundreds of lives perish into oblivion as the refugee ship came apart in the atmosphere, a small flutter in the Force only they could understand.

"You are an old man. You can no longer hold me back. I sensed your fear on the ship, you fear my power even now as you did on Coruscant." Vader swayed his saber close to the ground in a tick of frustration.

"I may be an old man, and no longer a Jedi. But I can still end this war right now."

"Good. As an old adversary once told me, twice the pride..double the fall!" Vader lurched forward, making contact with Windu's saber. Windu was taken back at the raw power. Vader's powered skeleton gave him the physical edge over the tired and diminished Windu. They crashed saber's again, this time engaging in a lock. They pulled one another from side to side, trying to find the right angle for a killing stroke. Vader's monstrous frame meant he easily lurched over the top of Windu, leaning on him. Windu's hand shook, feeling as though it would cave in at any second. Windu had no choice but to release his two handed grip and spun out of the lock.

Vader's immense strength was turned against him as he fell forward, Windu's parry was paired with a strike to Vader's side. It was a hit.

Darth Vader made an unintelligible, pain stricken groan. He managed to face Windu again, but struggled to keep up with his mastery of Vaapad, a highly aggressive lightsaber form invented by the man himself. It put Vader on his back heels, feeling claustrophobic against Windu's constant push forward. His burst of energy was unprecedented, only comparable to his flash duel with Sidious on Coruscant. Vader stumbled backwards but propelled a force push towards Windu, who was so focused on the melee he was hit full force.

Windu collapsed a few feet backwards, and Vader took this moment to regain his breath.

Windu scuttled off into one of the nearby caves and Vader followed. The tighter space could work in his favour or be his undoing.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 - Dark Despair / Catacombs**

The inside was dark, and made Vader sweat underneath the armour. He was aching and tired, but felt fresh from the adrenaline and hunger for vengeance.

"You used your fear against _me_. That is not the Jedi way." Vader taunted.

Darth Vader sheathed his lightsaber, and became a black wraith in the darkness. His cape made a swoosh, and his legs clapped the floor. These horrifying sounds bounced around the walls, making it seem as though there was hundreds of metal-clad sith lords. Like a mirror maze, he was everywhere but nowhere.

A crash from the outside was heard as the ship came down from above them. It had made contact with Geonosis. Dust flooded in from the exits, making it truly pitch black. The ceiling began to rumble, and soon they would both be trapped underneath the surface forever.

The impact of the ship ruptured the walls, cracks peeled off into the floor and shook uncontrollably with the cave.

It wouldn't matter who would be victor, Geonosis would claim them both soon enough.

Darth Vader looked desperately for an exit. Hoping his eyelenses would filter some of the dust and darkness. Instead it only interfered. His technology was useless in the interior dust. He had to rely on his senses, on the Force to guide him.

He inched onwards into the cave, his thoughts betraying him. He had not felt this helpless in a long time, he could barely see, hear or feel what was around him. The aura of danger and the sense that Windu could pull a killing blow at any point around him..from any direction vexed him so. The anxiety led to anger. And passion. But all emotion is useless without a will.

By the time Vader turned his saber on, a cut of what seemed like purple lightning struck across his vision. Vader shook his head in surprise as his chest took a slice. His optics flickered, and he was completely blinded as the system rebooted. "Aaaggh!" Vader raged, macing his saber around in the direction he thought Windu parried to. His optics completely switched off, unsupported vision was no vision at all for Vader. His legs shook, trying to hold the whole of Vader's upper body with diminished performance. He had to breath short deep breaths as if having an asthma attack. If he could survive the system reboot, he would still need to survive Windu and the cave's collapse.

Closing his eyes, he inched his way towards a direction. Feeling the wall's presence next to him, he let it guide him onwards, and upwards. Feeling a slight incline, he wrenched himself up. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot. As if his legs were chained together, he monotonously reminded his body what to do for every inch of the journey outside. He knew Windu would strike again, and this time it would be the end.

The reboot was almost complete, and he had almost reached the closest exit. If he had nerves on his skin, he would feel the sun that baked the planet's surface. Instead, he opened his eyes and saw a bright light ahead. His reboot was complete, and he felt power return to his body; his tubular lungs, his beating heart, his mechanical legs and his optical nerves buzzed alight once again. But there he was, between freedom and the confines of the collapsing cave. Windu thrust towards Vader, thinking him still in a weakened state. Vader's lightsaber came up laterally to catch the thrust, hitting it with such force the saber flew high out of Windu's sad hand. Without a second thought, Vader took the intimate chance to grab Windu's throat. He lifted him easily, his iron grip held Windu's neck like an ice cream cone. Vader squeezed, he looked directly into Mace's struggling eyes and went to bask in his victory when the cave exit began to fall on them. Vader hurled Windu down back into the cave, who thudded and rolled and clopped his way down the cave's incline. Vader was just outside now, angling his saber down in satisfaction to bare witness to Mace disappearing behind sheets of dust and rock. The exit was sealed with a final crack. If the push down several metres hadn't killed him, or the collapse, he would soon starve. Darth Vader hoped of the latter, a drawn out death for an adversary who refused to die was fitting.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 - The Past Never Truly Dies**

Vader looked for his trophy, but could not find it. His breath of relief was cut short, his panic was far from over. Windu's saber was nowhere to be found. The patch of dirt where Vader knew it fell was empty. He remembered specifically watching the old saber fall, thinking it symbolic.

He had almost been standing for a minute when a purple beam of light shot out from the crumbled cave entrance. Making a circular motion, the rock melted away. Vader took few steps back and adopted a close guarded stance.

Windu burst out with fury once the hole was made. Debris repulsed from the entrance, being hurled in all directions. One came straight towards Vader, who was confident and ready. He sliced it down the middle swiftly, only to brutally knocked away by Windu who had launched himself directly behind the flying boulder.

Vader lost balance, leaning on a Geonosian stalagmite behind him. Windu tried to strike overhead, Vader parried the helm-splitter by ducking under and sidestepping. Windu came at him again, Vader defended, hurling his weight onto Windu instead who was forced to disconnect and re-assess.

"Just as I had foreseen. The dark side has engulfed us both. It would seem the Light has failed you, as it did Anakin Skywalker." Vader goaded confidently.

Windu spat blood into the floor. "I always had a feeling about you Skywalker. The light didn't fail you. You failed yourself."

Vader swore it was the last time Windu would use _that_ name on him.

"The council failed the Republic. Anakin Skywalker died with the corruption of the council."

"It wasn't perfect. But the council didn't slaughter children….coward."

Vader had had enough. He couldn't indulge this conversation anymore. It made him sick to the stomach. He couldn't justify or rationalise his actions. It felt like a millennia ago. He wasn't proud of them, or overly upset - he simply felt nothing of it anymore.

"Let us end this charade."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 - Warriors' downfall**

Vader took a daring swing with so much force it made a humm past Windu's ear. Windu dodged, and flurried Vader's assault. Windu pushed back with his own might. Vader's boot squealed over the loose dirt, turning his torso to deflect the incoming barrage. Windu swiped up towards his neck, every stroke had killing intent. Vader met the saber with his own, slashing it away, leaving Windu open. Vader took a huge swing across Windu's abdomen, but the former Jedi Master managed an awkward backflip over it. Half-crouching and stumbling from his old legs and the broken terrain, Mace just about caught Vader's one handed pummeling of the saber, but was blindsided by a shuddering left cross from the sith lord's fist. A crunch erupted about the bearded jaw, surely teeth were broken. After hazily getting back to his feet he tried a force push to give him some time. It did not work. Vader braced himself and the only thing that quivered was the dust beneath them and the black cape serving as the Empire's flag on the barren world. However, it did cease Vader's onslaught for a moment. Enough time for Windu to refine his lightsaber form.

He attacked low and Vader moved to defend - but it was a feint - Windu thrust rightwards, gashing the offending fist from earlier. Vader ignored the blow, despite the true extent of the damage being a gouge down his whole left arm from elbow crease to finger. He realised the stark inconvenience when he went to change to a two handed stance to block the next attack but his hand and arm refused to move with the rest of his side. This cost him the advantage, as the strike was blocked with only half the anticipated effectiveness.

Vader swung himself out of the way of the next, clutching his arm to feel it was still there before managing a lucky deflect and cut to Windu's knee. Mace collapsed on all fours and Vader kicked him in the ribs. As Windu toppled over like a fish out of water, Vader went for the finish and stabbed his saber down into where Windu's heart would have been had he not rolled out of the way. Vader breathed heavily. The lightsaber still impaled in the floor, Vader mechanically screamed a deathly echo. Taking the impaled laser sword, he attempted to move his damaged left arm. Everything below the elbow of his limb was hanging off by now, so, all while staring at Windu - he flicked the lightsaber blade through it. With a spark and a frightening stillness, half of the severed arm dropped to the floor. The sith lord stamped on the half-arm, crushing it into mangled electronic scraps. A show of extreme hatred. His pain would be his strength. But so would Windu's.

Darth Vader knew this would be the final engagement between them, and with a Jedi speed and Sith rage so incomprehensible to the non-force user, so undetectable by human eye he fought Windu with all the spirit had. In the general population, some might speculate a dancing dust storm from distance...They moved as demi-gods might, a clash of two different breeds of powerhouse, the relentless dark werewolf against the equally lethal serpent.

As the fight ensued, Vader even hit Windu's lightsaber so ferociously the kyber crystal inside shook, causing the purple blade to flicker off and then on. Slicing Windu's robe, and controlling the whole vicious dance, Vader could not see himself slowing with every power stroke, haymaker and lunge. But he was tiring indeed. And Mace had not attempted a real attack of his own since Vader disposed of his own arm. The lack of an arm did prevent it from being caught amongst the rocks they darted in between, but every step made him forget to rebalance. And with this, Windu bided his time and when Vader's rage subsided...Windu struck back one last time…

Vaapad. Using one's own dark side against them - Mace Windu was the master of the form, the original creator of it. Vader had indulged himself in the darkside too much in his last push. So much so that it had blinded him to Windu's one remaining keen eye.

As Darth Vader went for the final killing blow, Mace flinched only enough to miss a fatal blow. Switching his saber to his non-dominant hand, he slashed at Vader's face at the cost of his other arm. He did not have time to make a full parry out of the way, because Vader would be too quickly on the offensive again. Sacrificing his mechanical arm to position himself into the optimal position - Mace buttered through Vader's helmet. In the same move he had used against Jango Fett. He hoped the result was the same. He expected the sith lord's head to drop with a thump. Instead, he turned to see Vader standing still. An arm for an arm, Mace thought. Vader stood shocked at this move. He looked to Windu, revealing the boiled face of an older Anakin Skywalker - his eyes a fiery yellow but smokey with age. In his shock, Vader left himself open to another attack. Mace obliged, performing a last ditch effort at a flip and then thrusting his saber straight into the dark lord's back, a clean stab, through and through. Drawing on the dark side to reduce the pain, Vader tried to retort with a spinning lunge that was lazy and unhinged. Mace struck, and Vader tried to defend valiantly, but could only manage three more numbing blocks before his voice turned raspy and cold.

He could barely breathe in the atmosphere, the dust made it even harder to maintain even a simple rhythmic inhalation and exhalation. His suit had failed him, the only thing keeping him alive was his hatred, in his mind, in his corrupted soul- but his body could take no more.

The behemoth fell to a knee, Windu's saber thrust through his side had gone all the way through his back and out his chest, narrowly missing his life support box which was still bogged down by the earlier reboot.

The sun hurt his eyes, and the purple flash he kept seeing was like lightning - it was only the hum of thunder that kept him guarding his flank. Vader caught Wind's wrist, hurling him away, sliding him across the ground without too much trouble. Vader threw a few cuts towards a grounded Windu, though all were parried or blocked. He slammed his foot down where Windu was laying, but instead his boot cracked the ground several meters in all directions and Windu was once again standing. Before Vader could move, Windu did the same again, hammering him back down to one knee, but this time, Vader could not get up, and resorted to guarding his life support box with his lightsaber in desperation and could not gain an offensive chance.

Even on one knee, he was still almost as tall as Windu. His grip fell apart, his lightsaber died as it fell to the ground.

"The tyranny of Darth Vader is over!" Mace shouted, looking down at the decrepit warrior, who used his one arm to keep himself up. Vader was on his buttocks now, painfully leaning on his arm for support, sprawled and vulnerable like the younglings he slaughtered. At least that's how Windu perceived it.

"Both you and I know what comes next...I just want you to know I don't take pleasure in this...I want you to know that the Emperor will not go unpunished for what he has done to us."

Windu outstretched his saber ready to finish Vader.

"I...have won…" Vader took a moment. Windu let him have the last empty words.

"..The Jedi...are now extinct...strike me down now...and- a Jedi you will be no longer. The last true Jedi..no..longer…"

Mace knew killing an unarmed Vader would mean sacrificing his very soul to the dark side, as he almost did with Sidious years before. The irony was Vader would win either way. If he lived, the Sith would continue with as much strength and Mace would eventually be hunted down. If he executed him, he would have broken the Jedi code. Both outcomes meant the last remnants of the original Jedi would be destroyed.


	8. EndEpilogue

End of Assignment

Vader raised his other hand up in reactionary defence as Windu struck down towards the broken machine.

Vader tried his best to look Windu in the eyes as he takes a final breath, but his eyelids refuse to obey against the bright sun, the unfiltered light burning at his sensitive pupils. Vader expects his pain to stop, but it lingers on somehow. He hears a scrabble of sounds, distorted by his redundant ears. He make out bright flashing red lights around him, if Force heaven existed, this was surely the crimson corridor to Force hell.

Windu gasps as red beams strike his back, what seemed like a hundred times. Windu yelps as holes tear through his robes. Out of Windu's front shoot blaster bolts, filling him in red glow. Spec ops Stormtroopers...Vader's Fist blasted Windu to pieces. He had tried to turn towards the source but was quickly cut down by the overwhelming barrage reminiscent of the executions during Order 66. Windu instantly collapsed, falling on his side, unmoving and ruined.

Vader relaxed his raised hand to reveal his flinch was more than just a reactionary block...As his hand fell to his side, the car sized boulder that floated above Windu's head collapsed with it.

Vader was ready to take Windu down with him, with one last testament of his will, to at least have them both die by his command.

Vader, still struggling to survive, glanced at the boulder and at Windu's almost unrecognisable corpse. Stormtroopers rushed towards him. Vader scowled ungratefully to the stormtroopers who had saved him, for they had taken from him his personal satisfaction of killing his oldest rival himself. For Vader, the possibility of death was a small price to pay for his personal satisfaction, a sweet victory in this defeated Galaxy. After all his failures and hardships, hours inside the prison of a suit, the wretched memories and scars across his body - And his own men take this one therapy from him.

Piett arrives to greet Vader, who manages to stand.

"We heard you was in distress Lord Vader, and sent units your way. I have dispatched several medical units…-" But to Vader, it was the blabbering of a child, one who will claim credit as a Jedi killer, and one who had stolen Vader's personal triumph. He had specifically designed and commanded this be a solo mission.

He recognised the expression of pity on Piett's face, which only does more to further enrage him. His own legion of stormtroopers see him in this state, partially unmasked, and Piett too...The persona, the idea that Vader represented, the machine enforcer was a lie, and he, was just a man. The last of his kind, Sith Lord, Hand to the Emperor, and long ago, Hero of the Clone Wars, bested by a one handed, crippled elder.

Vader, consumed with rage, unleashed the fire of his lightsaber. It would taste blood once again so soon.

"YOU DISOBEYED ME FOR THE LAST TIME ! " Vader, enraged and already gripping his saber, went to unleash it on Admiral Piett. Vader raised his arm and tried to strike the Admiral with it, right across the chest. Piett tensed up like a wooden plank. Vader had imagined slicing him in half with it. Now there was nothing but confidence, his blade should swoop down upon this insubordination….but the blade did not fall an inch.

It had not moved at all. With all his will, it was as if his arm fought against him. For a moment he thought it was his electronics malfunctioning again, Vader was then poised to choke him instead.

He heard repugnant voice from behind. He recognised it, and in an instant, turned to fall onto one knee.

"Lord Vader...don't be a fool. It was me that ordered additional support. I gave you a fleet, and you refused to use it." The Emperor himself had glided to Vader, accompanied by his royal guard. His wrinkled hands slowly shivered in his sleeves, but Vader realised what…-who- had been stopping his arm from moving. Frustrated at his Master for denying him the sweet murder he desired, he also understood why, albeit contemptuous, for preventing him from killing a respected, senior and 'innocent' officer. Vader realised how unhinged and barbaric he looked...Perhaps the Emperor was right to stop him.

"My apologies, my Master. It appears age had not diminished Windu's ability to defend himself."

The Emperor dismissed everyone but the royal guards.

"These assignments are not personal matters. Anakin Skywalker died burning on Mustafar, because the Jedi allowed it. You should have heeded your Admiral's advice and shot him down before he even reached this wretched planet."

"I wanted to verify his destruction myself. I could not have allowed him to escape our grasp a-"

The emperor sensed Vader's deception, and had no patience for his excuses.

"-Enough. This pursuit is over. We have more grave matters that require your attention. Report to the Second Death Star immediately, the last Jedi remains on Endor."

"Skywalker."

"Yes, Windu is no longer the last remnant of the Jedi. I sense the end to this petty rabble. Finish this Lord Vader. Go to the Endor system, and fulfill your destiny."

"As you wish, my Master."

\- end -


End file.
